Monday, May 21, 2012

May 21 – A Charge to Keep

As the canopy
was removed and Elizabeth rose, anointed, and then knelt at the faldstool
placed before St. Edward’s Chair, Archbishop Fisher lifted his hand and voice
to bless the young Queen, consecrated through his own faith and obedience. He spoke the words of which St. Dunstan had
spoken over Edgar, the first King of All England, and very distant relative of
the woman before him . . .

“by his holy
Anointing pour down upon your Head and Heart the blessing of the Holy Ghost,
and prosper the works of your Hands: that . . . you may govern and preserve the
Peoples committed to your charge in wealth, peace and godliness.”

Whatever
before, all the pageantry of the processional, all that was yet to come, the
Investiture, Crowning, and the Homage, none could have, none did so visibly,
move the soul of the minister than the Anointing.

For us in Cor
Unum, we know that it is the “anointing which destroys the yoke” (Isaiah 10:27) We know it; do we remember it and hold that
truth as sacred day by day, just as Elizabeth must wake up and be a monarch
every morning?

She reigns as
Her Majesty over millions of people; we may, if we will, walk in the majesty of
an Anointing that will relieve and release those around us from all
bondage. Hers is a great calling; she
has taken every part in good conscience and born the burden.

Ours will be
as great . . . greater . . . toward those who have not known love or truth or
purity or hope or joy or purpose or strength or peace. She must be the lawful and consecrated Queen
of her realm, daughter of a King; we must be the lawful and consecrated children of the Most High,
co-heirs with Jesus Christ, our lawful and not-at-all distant relative. It is our birthright, here in the sanctity of
Cor Unum.

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Psalm 27:4

It has been my privilege to compile a "monastic" devotional for everyday life and for women in all walks of life. We take part in this "Cyber Monastery" for the purpose of growth in devotion and the "practice of the Presence of God."

Although we may never meet, we share this cloister and this life through our prayer and worship and small, determined steps in godliness.

Neither Catholicism nor holy orders are required here; this is the most ancient monasticism, the kind that took Anna into the temple in the second chapter of Luke, Moses into the Tent of Meeting, and Paul into seclusion in the early days of his conversion. Within our families and our churches, day and night, alone or in company, we are "marketplace monastics," living to bring pleasure to the heart of God.

Join us - your new "habit" awaits ... here in Cor Unum Abbey.

"One thing have I desired of the Lord; that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord, all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple."